Hello, starting my Walknan collection here.

Hi there, I'm Sergio.

I live in Mexico (Cancun) and I have always wanted to start a Walkman collection. I'm only interested in the WM10 (and similar, aluminiun-case, ultra-small profile Walkmans like the WMf10, WM10II, etc)

I was only 15 when I had the chance to listen to some tapes in a WM-10 (white, "vertical in-ear" headphones) and I was instantly blown away and sold for life. That is still one of the fondest memories of my youth when it comes to music and gadgets.

Thing was simply spectacular, literally a-ma-zing: slim, running on one battery only, stylish as hell, out-of-this-world stereo sound and impressive miniaturization. And I sure knew about electronics at the time as it was my technical area in high school (and one of my favorite subjects ever). I just coudn't understand how Sony could've stuffed an electronic motor in a few milimeters. I haven't felt that level of amazement and wonder ever again.

That Walkman was in my hands for only a few days (aunt's boyfriend loaned it) and it took me about a year to get my own. I can honestly say that I was helplessly in love with the thing, yes, just as much as I would be later on with girls.

Back in the early and mid 80's, these kind of top-shelf electronics were not something you could easily find in Mexico (even in big stores like Sears or Liverpool which usually carried imports) so, in order to get it, I had to -literally- walk through hundreds, (maybe thousands) of electronics stands (yes, I mean like tarp-covered, taco stands on the streets of Mexico City) in a place called "Tepito", where everyone used to get their electronics from: Boomboxes, cameras, big stereos, Sony TV's, etc... goods there were informally called "Fayuca" (the term referred to smuggled goods, which for some stupid government rule, could not be imported legally into the country, but the demand was there and it had to be supplied somehow).

99.0% of salespeople I talked to in these stands on the street, had no clue what I was talking about when I described what I was looking for, and, being as they are: dogged salespeople, all of them tried to shove the chunkier, plastic, cheap-looking "brick" options they had available down my throat claiming "they were better than what I wanted" but I never settled for anything less. I wanted a walkman WM-10, even if I died trying.

After what must've been a dozen visits to (dangerous) "Tepito", in different dates, for months... finally!! ... a salesman said: "I know what you want" and he left the stand for a few minutes to come back with a WMF-10 in his hands!! ... I was drooling for sure... (the WMF-10 was not what I wanted -exactly- but almost) and as hard as it had been finding a WM-10, I relented and bought the red WMF-10 (I ended up liking the thing and the radio stereo sound was also amazing, but I was really bent -and still am- on the pure simplicity of that very first, blue WM-10)

I only have a red WMF10 (needs flex radio connector) and I am proud owner of a real "minty" black, WM10II (still in blue, beat-up original box, vinyl carrying case and original vertical-in-ear headphones)

That's my story.

Glad to be here!

 

Welcome to Stereo2go Sergio Salinas

Yes the WM-10 were special back in 1983 when they came out, so clever how they made them so slim Cool. I never owned any of the really small ones at the time. Later on in time I had an Aiwa HS-P707 which is very thin too.

 

That one looks like something I would've been interested in if it had been shown to me back in the day. Sure looks stylish and refined too.

 

Here is a bad video of a slightly bigger one the 705, the 707 was thinner.

 

hello Sergio Salinas and welcome to S2G forums
There are many compact walkman cassette units and for sure WM-10 is one of the smallest one. Sanyo, Panasonic, Sharp... all made compact cassette players
WM-10 design is iconic and everybody love this model and almost all walkman collectors have one of these units (WM-10/20/30/40)
You have a "minty" black, WM10II, thats great. I also have one that i got it from one of the members about 3 years ago.

Its hard to find the part you need for your WM-F10. All of my WM-F10 are in good working condition otherwise will send you this part.

 

Thanks Boodokhan, I guess I will end up "fabricating" my own flex connector.

I still need to make some tests, but I believe I can use "conductive ink" (the kind used for repairing copper lines on the back windows of car equipped with that defrosting system) The problem with this approach is soldering the ends (!!)... or maybe I'll try to get a very thin copper sheet in a Crafts Store, and then stick it to some sort of flexible plastic sheet, then do the regular procedure to make a printed circuit boards) and then "sandwhich" the copper tracks with another layer of transparent plastic once they have been etched.

I will let everyone know how I go about it and (If I am sucessful) I will have them for sale... I don't really know if there are many of these beauties with a torn or broken flex conector.

Cheers.

 

Hi... thanks... A large chunk of connector is gone... I will have to source a used one or make my own flex printed circuit ribbon...

 

Nice story, welcome, Sergio!

 

Thanks... glad to be among other Walkman fans...

 

A suggestion... instead of making one, try to find an electronic device that has one that you can use/modify for you needs. Example, I recall seeing some cheap computer keyboards that have flex ribbon cables inside. You may be able to use one of them to modify/cut it to the size/shape you need.

Another potential source for these flex cables are old broken cell phones and laptops. Many laptops use a flex cable to connect the keyboard to the mother board. As for cell phones, look for old broken flip phones. They will likely also have flex ribbon cables you may be able to borrow from.

Here are some examples I found after a quick google search. The first two are from a laptop, the past pic is from a Nokia slider phone. Some places that I would look for this kind of stuff would be Good Will and Salvation Army shops, and also eBay.

 

Hello... thanks, I'm in the process of making a new one... The material is sold by the sheets on Ebay and etching a new one should be no problem... I must finish other DIY projects first but once they're done, I will print the circuits on the sheet (as many as possible) and sell the rest to anyone interested.

 

Sure

https://www.ebay.com/itm/PYRALUX-Ka...285099?hash=item2a8e8dd0ab:g:iesAAOSwHpdZw6sC

 

You can cut it with scissors or an "exacto" blade or sharp hobby knife.

The only thing I believe you have to be really careful with is when you cut "inner" corners... You must be able to cut the inner corner preferrably in a single round pass, if you stop in the middle of the rounded corner and then restart the cut with the blade in a different sharp angle, you may leave a tiny "unfinished" cut in the middle and the ribbon may rip or tear starting from that point -just as cello tape does- ... I have never worked with the material before, so I don't really know how fragile or resistant to rips it is, hopefully not so sensitive, guess I'll find out soon.

For these round cuts, I figure I could fashion a corner-cutting tool by taking a piece of steel tubing (like the one used for brake lines in cars) and sharpen the edge by inserting a conic-shaped grinding stone (Dremel tool) and then just "punch" the corners out.

Cheers!

 

Yep, as long as you use a new and sharp drill bit (in high speed setting with some wood for backing) yes, that could work too, otherwise, a blunt and slow bit will catch the material and tear i to pieces before you know it... It's probably a better idea to drill those corners just after printing the circuit on the sheet and before etching the copper layer, while the material is thicker and stronger.